Homeless Man's Greed

You don't know, maybe celery and blue cheese have a high resale value on the homeless black market...

I've never had that happen with a homeless person, but I'd venture to guess the man had some issues besides being homeless. I did once have a situation where a student spend all his lunch money at the gift shop on a field trip so when we got to the fast food place he had no money for lunch. I have him a few dollars and told him to order a hamburger, fries, and a small drink off the dollar menu. He came back to me a few minutes later and told me I hadn't given him enough. Turns out he'd ordered a Big Mac, large fries, and a large shake, with a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. I let him keep the Big Mac and fries. I enjoyed the shake and cookie. He made due with a cup of water.

He may not even have been homeless. Last year, In Kansas City , Ks. my sister and I stopped at Wendy's after a medical procedure. A large man approached me as I opened my door. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me he needed gas money, his kids were in the car and it was out of gas over on the road. We do not carry cash, said so and went in. Mentioned it to the cashier and she called the manager. Evidently this guy hangs out there and always has some story. Manager has fed him before and offered him work, no go. There were no children, no stalled car. Man came back into the restaurant with a different story and got sent on his way.

The ones I have met seem to be decent people in unfortunate circumstances. I will never give them cash, quite honestly I never have cash anyway. LOL They do seem to know how to get as much as possible out of you though. LOL

That was very nice of you to do. I would not be able to do it, because I usually only carry enough cash for whatever I need. I might be able to spare a couple of dollars, but I certainly could not have spent an extra $15 on someone else. I am not homeless, but if someone is paying for my meal, then I try not to spend too much money. I always try to find items that I like but are less money than whatever the other person is going to have, because I think that is the polite thing to do.

Wow! Not shocked but he really should be gratefull. This made me want some wings. Well, that's how it goes down sometimes, you'll be blessed.

Since homeless people by definition spend all their time on the streets asking for money, they tend to settle into one of two categories. There are those who feel self conscious about asking for help and others who see most people as potential targets.

Wow, how ungrateful. We have homeless people in our small town. Some panhandle for change. They are always grateful for any amount given to them. I personally haven't encountered any.

That is just awful! I have had an experience like this but first let me say that when my family was homeless and hungry we were grateful for a piece of bread!! Anyway, my husband and I knew this homeless guy and he worked with my husband for a little bit. Our friend was looking for a room mate so we told him about the homeless guy. He agreed to let him stay with him! We were so excited for him. Then a week later the homeless guy was complaining because our friend was too messy for him and the faucet dripped at night and kept him awake!! Seriously? He was living in an abandoned house before that! We also thought he should have been grateful for a warm place to stay but he wasn't at all-it bothered us a LOT. He also complained that my husband wasn't paying him enough since he was only making $80 per day as a helper! Some people will never be happy no matter what-sadly.

Poor, homeless, destitute - none of those excuse bad manners. I would have told him how ungrateful he was, especially as he didn't even thank you.

Yes, a lady stopped me on the street and asked for 50 cents for something to eat. I said I have a pie and a salad upstairs at my son's place and I will bring it out to you. She said she does not want food but wants the money.

Yikes that was pretty nervy of him to order so much food. And as for his rudeness that was just plain mean of him. How could he not even thank you for paying for his food. Wow makes you almost think being a good guy is not worth it.

I am very much conflicted about what to say about the incident you mentioned. Should I pat your back and praise you? Or should I reprimand you? Since we live in opposite ends of the world and there is a lot of cultural, social, traditional, etc.. etc... differences. I guess I will just say you've done a good job! And it definitely is a good job! You fed a homeless person. Over the times we have encountered several homeless people. Every couple of weeks, sometimes days, a homeless beggar will knock on our door. We try to never turn such a person away empty handed. Be it food or loose change, we always give them something. Sometimes clothes too. (Nowadays we avoid giving cash and try to help another way) There is actually this lady who roams the streets in our locality from the time she wakes up in the morning to the time she goes to sleep in the night. Whenever we come across her, we feed her and get her water to drink. Some other lady has a small room which she lent her for free recently. That lady used to sleep at roadside in chilled winters. There used to be a man who picked up trash in our steet. Not homeless exactly. But he was very very poor. Always in rags and going without food so his family could eat. We knew where he lived so we knew what his situation was. But he never asked for help. He could have. A time came when his daughter was to be wed. Only time he broke down and swallowed his pride, begged for help to my grandma. I still remember him on his knees. Yes his knees! We did help. Now that he had finally open up and asked for help, we kind of took advantage of the situation. Gave him TV since we were about to buy the upgraded one. Gave him some furniture like bed, some cash, clothes, etc... Well he asked so he had to deal with it. Imagine me returning home after a long travel due to some work. I am late for my meal. Mom plates my food for me as soon as I step in. I sit down after getting freshen up and about to take a bite. LOL There is a knock on the door. And who's there? Some homeless guy and once it was a small child. Without thinking twice, I picked up the plate Mom made for me and gave my food to that homeless person. It isn't something made up. It has happened. Call me stupid but the thing is that person has not had any food for who knows how long. He needs the food more than me. I can go without one meal. Wouldn't kill me or hurt me. Only difference here, I never expect any thank you or any expression of gratefulness. No amount of gratefulness can beat the feeling you get seeing the smile and the twinkle in their eyes. Blame my Dad for that. Out of his three children, he gave that trait to me. Coming back to the incident you described. The title says "Homeless man's greed" That greed is out of desperation, their whole circumstances, situations! Who knows what things that person went through? Agreed there are all sorts of homeless people. But the person you described appeared to be hungry in truth. He did not make it up to con some cash out of you. He very well could have. I don't know how homeless or beggar situation go over at your end. But I don't find his "ungratefulness" as rude to be honest. Forgetfulness, distraction, disconnect from society, etc... may have been the reason. Who knows? I don't find his demand for more sauce as an act of ungratefulness either. Hunger, greed, taking advantage of an out of norm situation.... all consequences of his homeless situation. Can't blame him for that. I would actually suspect him if he did not behave this way. Well that is how I see the situation. That's my opinion. P.S. And blame @VivaLaDani13 for my visit here. She digs up old posts and some of them are very interesting. I get to read them through her. That is one of the reason I check her activity when I can't find interesting things to read. Thanks Dovey! =)

Homeless people live in a very different world from the middle class. They get used to a hard life, and sometimes they forget their manners because of this. Many are also mentally ill, and may not be so great at interacting with others. It's a wonderful thing that you fed him, and also that you apologized to the cashier for his grumpiness. I think the important thing to take away from an exchange like this is that you have enough that you can share, and that you chose to do so in a situation where many others would have dismissed the man.

Happened to me although under different circumstances. I've dealt with ungrateful people before - perhaps more so than my fair share!

What an experience indeed. Usually when I drive by a panhandler if I have something extra - a banana or soda or something I will offer it up yo them and 99% of the time they say yes and are super thankful. I went out to eat once recently and had some leftovers so I offered it to a panhandler who turned it down! I was kind of shocked but he said pasta gave him indigestion. Not nearly anything like your expetrience. I would be frustrated after that. But remember...hes just one person!

I was kind of floored by this story and thought what a really nice guy you are to do that. Then I thought maybe there should be a marking training school for how to sell yourself and follow up properly as a homeless rep. It might have been better just to order something with an extra portion for your new found friend? There seemed to be a problem when him having control of ordering. Yep he has high stress levels of being homeless influencing how he behaves. I've seen people sweep, carry groceries, clean windshields, sell something, even give advice as life consultants or conduct interviews in exchange for food. As soon as you wrote he asked for.. it gave me a clue as to how the story might end.

We went to McDonald's today and a girl didn't have enough for her blizzard she wanted. She was like $0.30 short but before I could say anything the manager told her not to worry about it and let her have one.

Hmmm... your experience was interesting.... I would have done some checking before I even thought about doing that... Yeah, I had a guy ask me for money as I was leaving my job for the day. (I work at Walmart.) I told him Walmart was hiring. He got indignant and told me he would never work for Walmart! I told him that he was asking for money from someone who works at Walmart, though... He tried to tell me there was a big difference.... I walked away.

Goodness! If someone were to offer me some food I'd be grateful for it. I mean, yeah he ordered things that cost more than the $3 he was asking for, but he still should've said thank you and been nice to the cashier. Plus he should've asked if it was okay if he got what he got since it was more than $3.